Someone Like You
by Barely Berries
Summary: "One day, you'll meet someone just like you." Gaara doesn't believe it until he meets her; an angel inside his hell. He doesn't intend on letting her go, and maybe he'll be able to save her too. Gaara x Fem!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Someone Like You  
 **Genre:** Hurt/Comfort, Angst, eventual Romance  
 **Characters/Pairing:** GaaraFemNaruto **  
** **Author: T** he Dark Crimson Blood  
 **Summary:** "One day, you'll meet someone just like you." Gaara doesn't believe it until he meets her; an angel inside his hell. He doesn't intend on letting her go, and maybe he'll be able to save her too.

 **Word Count: 5,578**

* * *

Gaara - 8  
Naruto - 7

"Your eyes are really pretty."

She's a pretty little thing with hair as bright as the sun; Gaara has to squint to get a look at her because she's so damn bright in a village full of people who are nothing but dull and dreary. She greets him with a smile and shows off every single one of her teeth; she's missing one on the bottom left side of her mouth, it makes him wonder how old she is.

Gaara finds himself staring; his mouth is open slightly and yet he's at a loss of words. He's not really sure what he should do or say or even how he should react because the hate that he's so used to seeing is nowhere to be found; instead there's blind warmth and acceptance for someone that she's never even met before. She's not from around here.

If the bright blonde hair and big blue eyes didn't give things away, then the fact that she's wearing a headband from a different country is enough to let the redhead know that she's an outsider. It's obvious that she didn't know how things worked around here because she approached him without hesitation despite the heavy glare that previously rested on his face.

She smiles.

Bright and wide.

Warm and welcoming.

"Hey, you're eyes are really pretty."

It takes a second for Gaara to actually process what came out of her mouth; he's never heard those words directed towards him before and it makes his thoughts stop and his mouth open a bit more. She's got to be kidding; lying to him so she can hurt him more later. His eyes were the exact opposite of pretty; they're the eyes of a killer, after all. They're not pretty at all.

"You've got beautiful red hair too. Red's my favorite color in the whole world, yknow?"

His head cocks to the side and his eyes squint just a bit; he answers dumbly, looking right into her electric eyes. "Blue... I like... blue."

Blue. Blue because it reminded him of the sky. The ocean. The beauty of a clashing flower in the middle of a desert wasteland. A sandy beach meeting with an endless ocean. Blue like her eyes as they sparkle with excitement. "I like blue." He says one last time, firmly.

"That's a good color." She agrees, nodding her head up and down in acceptance of his answer.

He wonders if this is a dream; someone is actually talking to him and holding a conversation with him as though he were just a normal human being. She's not treating him like a monster/demon/murderer and he doesn't know how to act anymore. He doesn't want to scare her off because if he does then he thinks he'll cry, it'll hurt his heart the way Yashamaru told him when he tried to make friends.

His mouth clamps shut.

Her smile glows and tries to melt his doubt and insecurity away; she slams a hand onto her own chest and stands tall while introducing herself. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto if you were wondering, I came from Konoha! It's nice to meet ya!"

"I'm Gaara." He says, a bit nervously. How long has it been since he's actually had the chance to introduce himself to someone? Has he ever actually done if before and if not, then is this the right way to do it? A million questions run through his head and he waits and waits for the hate and disgust to appear on her face at the sound of his name, but it never happens.

Actually, she looks pleased. "It's nice to meet you, Gaara."

She takes his hand with both of hers and shakes it firmly; her touch is warm and her skin is a bit calloused, but Gaara finds himself unwilling to let go. "I've never really been out of Konoha before, and we're stopping here for a couple days to resupply and rest, but that's boring! Is there anything fun to do around here?"

Gaara's never been anywhere but the playground but it's not really fun for him; the kids run when they see him and he's always stuck on the swing alone while everyone else plays. The most fun he's had is reading at Yashamaru's house or making fake people out of sand and pretending that he has friends, but even that's not that much fun.

"What do you do... for fun... in your village?"

He speaks lowly but she still manages to hear him; her right ear twitches as though trying to pick up on the sound and when she hears him her smile twitches and almost fades completely. He wonders if she's mad at him and he hopes that he didn't say anything wrong, but the look on her face is telling him otherwise.

Her hand trails over to her stomach and stays there for a long second. "I'm kind of a brat, so everyone at home hates me."

Who in their right mind would hate someone like her?

The question remains unanswered. "When I'm at home I train a lot and study and cook and stuff..." She draws off; her pointer finger scratches her cheek and she looks away in thought. What did normal kids do for fun? "I think that's it, really."

"Are you alone?"

She hums. "Yeah, but I was born alone so it's nothing new."

"Do you have a mommy?"

She shakes her head. "No, she died when I was born. My dad did too."

Gaara stiffens.

She's alone.

She's completely alone without a mother or a father or any older siblings or an aunt or an uncle or even a simple caretaker to watch over her; if she's all by herself with no one to love or be loved by, then how is she so happy? Why is she able to smile and laugh and shine as brightly as she does? It feels wrong but he knows the smile on her face isn't fake and the mirth in her eyes is real, but he doesn't understand how.

He pauses.

Her long eyelashes flutter, she barely manages to suppress a yawn as it passes through her lips.

"Aren't you lonely?"

"Yeah,"

"Then how are you so happy? Doesn't your heart hurt?" He puts a hand on the left side of his chest and then reaches out with his other to feel for her heartbeat as well; his forehead crinkles, but his hand doesn't move once it's touched her. She doesn't pull away. "My uncle says that there's only one thing that can heal the heart, do you know what it is? It's love."

There's a long silence between the two before Naruto puts a hand over the one that's already resting on her chest, she holds the back of his hand with hers and grips it firmly. "Sometimes my heart hurts but I think that's okay, because knowing what it's like to be hurt makes us human. And yknow, I love myself. I love myself and I love the villagers and the ninjas and everyone who treats me badly. If I spent all of my time hating others, then I don't think I'd have any time left for myself."

"Being hurt... makes me a human?"

"Whenever someone hurts you and you deal with the pain that comes with it, doesn't it make you want to be kind to others so that they don't have to feel the same way? I think that knowing what it's like to be hurt, is what makes us try to be kinder to others." There's a part of him that's not sure what to do when she releases his hands and places both of her own on his cheeks, forcing him to give just a small smile. "I think that you might be the kindest of them all, Gaara."

There's nothing stopping the scarlet red blush that overwhelms his face.

Suddenly Gaara's not sure what to think or do or say or react and something inside of him roars with laughter and yells loudly in his ears; his head rings and echoes and it hurts/it hurts/it hurts. He grabs the sides of his head in pain and keels over; knees burying themselves deep into the sand and elbows soon follow, he screams and growls and repeats the same thing over and over again to the creature that only he can hear.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

She's worried; blonde eyebrows furrow as she reaches forward hesitantly to put a hand on his shoulder as though to comfort him. It doesn't work; his eyes aren't the same and the demon is taking over, there's nothing stopping him from hurting her. There's nothing stopping him from killing her, but he doesn't want that. He doesn't want her to go away he doesn't want to slowly crush her to death with his sand but he can't stop.

It won't stop.

Sand flies forward and wraps itself around her small body; it holds her up high above ground and suffocates her slowly by crushing her windpipe. She claws at her neck and the sand aggressively but only manages to dig her fingernails into the skin in her neck and it bleeds; the sand absorbs every drop greedily, and Gaara can only watch as his body moves without his permission.

He's killing his first friend.

He's killing the first person who took the time to talk to him.

Her head lulls to the side; she's still conscious, but she's calmed down. There's a tiny smile on her face as she reaches out once more to touch him; she's in pain and he knows that she's strong and he knows that she has weapons that could get her out of this situation, but not once has she made a move to grab them and free herself. Her fingertips graze against the side of his face before her whole arm falls limply to her side. "It's okay... Don't... Don't be... scared... You don't... have be alone anymore..."

He drops her.

Her lifeless body hits the ground.

Gaara decides that he's scared, but he's not sure why.

Maybe he's afraid of her; the girl who looked death in the face, smiled, and told him that everything was okay.

...

"I met a girl today, but I hurt her. I didn't mean to and it hurts, because I hurt her."

"Do you want to take her some medicine?"

"Okay."

...

He notices her bright blonde hair easily in a crowd.

It shines brightly while surrounded by the muted colors surrounding her; he watches her from a distance because right now he's not sure how to approach her.

He sees the bandages peering out from underneath her clothing and the way she walks with a limp dispite the crutches aiding her as she walks; it's understandable, yesterday he crushed her left leg and probiably cracked and broke a couple other bones too but her leg had been the worst. If anything right now she should be in bed and yet here she is, walking around in the middle of a busy street all alone with no one to aid her in case she needed help.

It's strange.

Yesterday he almost killed her; the attack that he used would've easily heavily injured an adult, and if he had gone any further than she'd be dead right now. Yet for some reason today she was walking around as though she wasn't a survivor of a murder attempt. She looks exactly the same as the day before; he sees the same big smile on her face and the mirth in her eyes as she enjoys watching the simplist of things. A pair of children playing on the streets, adults talking about meaningless things without sparing her a glance, and a peaceful atmosphere that seemed to be unfamilar to her.

She looks genuinely happy.

Injuries and attitude aside, Gaara enjoys the sight of her.

She's unique.

He's never seen anyone with hair as bright as hers or eyes as radiant; he wonders if everyone from Konoha looks like her, but somehow that idea seems impossible. She's probably special, or at least Gaara thinks so.

He knows that she's special.

She's careless and crazy and warm and -

She just walked into a wall.

It's hard for him to watch as she falls to the ground and then struggle to get back up again; she's off balance and clumsy and there's no one around to help her; the civilians don't seem to notice her, and not once does she look to anyone for help. She grabs at everything near her and eventually manages to get back up on her feet; she bends down shakily to grab her crutch, but it's obvious that she's only going to fall again. Gaara feels inclined to help, and uses a bit of sand to push the objects into her grasp.

She's confused, but only for a moment.

"Thanks!" She calls out in every direction, and he knows it's genuine just by listening to her.

Gaara wonders if maybe, she's an angel.

His lips stretch.

(Is it a smile? He's not sure.)

He decides that it wouldn't hurt to follow her around a bit longer; he trails her for the rest of the morning and by the time lunch comes around, hes hungry and she probably is too.

She finds a nice empty park that and claims it as her own as she finishes off a large canteen of water, and then picks at a granola bar but doesn't finish it. It's more of a snack than a meal but she seems to be content with it; he wonders if she always eats this way. It would definately explain why her clothing looked so big on her. He blinks, deciding not to think too much into it and instead approaches cautiously.

"I saw you fall."

"I swear I'm not clumsy! It's just hard to stay up on those damned things." She pouts, and turns to him with a smile. "Thanks for the help though, I'd probably be there still trying to get up if you didn't give me a hand."

"Why didn't you ask someone to help you?"

She shrugs. "People don't usually want to help me, so I don't bother them."

"Why do you help others?"

"Cause it's the right thing to do!"

"Would you help someone that wouldn't help you?"

"Of course. If I can love someone without them loving me back, then what's stopping me from giving a helping hand?"

"I'm sorry..." He shuffles through his pocket and hands her a bag of medicine; the first time he tried to help someone out they slammed the door in his face and ran away screaming, but here is is again. Here he is, offering his heart despite fearing that it might actually break this time. "I didn't mean... to hurt you."

She stares at him for a long second; he decides to close his eyes when she gets closer, fearing that she might actually hit him but she doesn't.

Her arms wrap around his neck and he feels her chin rest on his shoulder; she's hugging him. She whispers her thanks for his help earlier and hugs his sides so closely that he feels her warmth mingling with his own; she smells of cinnamon and something else that he can't really pick up on, and she nuzzles him in way that's unexpected.

She's hugging the person who just tried to kill her yesterday.

Gaara wonders if he's met an angel.

She releases him and steps back; there's a slight blush on her face and a big smile that reaches her eyes and he swears that he can see them sparkle. "It sucks that we got off on such a bad foot yesterday so lets start over." She shifts her crutches awkwardly to balance herself even as she reaches a hand out for him to shake. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto, but you can call me whatever you like. It's nice to meet you!"

"Sabaku... Sabaku Gaara." He takes her hand in his own.

He swallows dryly; he's a bit nervous and the words he wants to speak don't seem to want to come out easily. His angel is patient; she cocks her head to the side and her ears twitch as they wait for him to continue and for some reason the sight makes him a little shy. His face flushes slightly with the color pink and he looks down, shyly. "Do you... wanna go play?"

"I thought you'd never ask!"

Gaara wonders if this is what it feels like to be loved.

It's kind of addicting.

She doesn't let go of his hand as she leads him away and when she leaves her crutches behind and walks ahead with nothing more than a slight limp, he doesn't say anything. He swears that earlier she mentioned that she healed really quickly and the fact that she was just as right and bubbly as always after an attack that should've left her dead, is enough to have him believe her.

He stumbles in her footsteps as they turn the corner and the glares of the adults and children aren't as harsh when he has someone beside him.

It's nice.

"Oh great, the monster made a friend."

For a moment Gaara thinks that she'll keep walking, but she doesn't.

She stops dead in her tracks and pulls him behind her, as though to protect him from the disgusted gaze of the villager who called them out. "Mister, I think you're delusional. You're walking alone, all your friends are imaginary. Did you have too much to drink?"

With that she sticks her tongue out and they take off again, leaving the man flushed and stumbling over his words in attempt to find some sort of comeback for her sarcastic response. By then, they're long gone.

The park is just around the corner and mostly empty, save for a couple of children running around and playing on the playground.

"What do you like to do at the playground?"

He points to the swing; it's really the only thing he does whenever he's here, but he doesn't tell her that. Instead he takes the lead and sits down in the same swing he always uses, but this time the swing beside him isn't empty. Naruto plops down next to him; the smile on her face is rather thoughtful, she looks as though she's thinking about something.

"There's a swing in my village like this, it's right outside of the academy. I used to sit there alone and just watch everyone whether they were playing or going home with their parents... It's kinda nice, to swing with someone else." She turns her head to the side and scratches the side of her cheek, her smile is a bit smaller but it's still just as warm.

Gaara thinks it's kind of amazing that two people can be from two different places and experience the very same things.

It's kind of sad too.

"I come here a lot."

"To swing?"

He nods.

"Alone?"

He nods again.

There's a comfortable silence between the two before Gaara interrupts it.

"What's Konoha like?"

The blonde blinks, a slight hum escapes her mouth as she seems to spend the next ten seconds or so thinking about how to describe it the best. "It's a great country. There's a lot of nature and wildlife around and the village is always busy with people no matter what time it is; you should come to Konoha some time! I'll show you all my favorite spots, like the on top of the Hokage Mountain or in the woods where there's this super cool training spot that I like to go to."

A pause, she takes a deep breath.

"Ooo! I almost forgot! Ichiraku makes the best ramen in the world and they always give me a discount when I go by so you should come with me, my treat! I think that you'll like it in Konoha." She finishes with a curt nod, kicking a bit of sand with her foot. "I'd eat ramen every day for every meal if I could."

Her face mellows out. "It's a great place. I bet you'd make a lot of friends there."

"I don't need a lot of friends." He corrects, the slight purse of his lips doesn't go unnoticed.

She outstretches her hand and he does the same.

"Me either."

...

"Did she take the medicine?"

"Yeah, I think she's okay."

"How are you?"

"I don't think my heart hurts anymore either."

...

"Naruto," He tries, there's no response.

He wasn't really expecting one in the first place. It's three in the morning after all and she's fast asleep in the floor of the apartment she was renting for the week; he comes in through the window and rests himself against the windowsill. It's odd that she would leave the window unlocked and half open but somehow she seems like the type to be forgetful of the small things like that, he wonders if she forgot to lock the door too and if that was the case then he wonders if he should lock it for her.

She's fast asleep on the floor.

It doesn't even look as though she's attempted to reach the bed in the first place; she's surrounded by scrolls, books, and various other studying material used beforehand. There's ink on the side of her face and her clothing is a bit disheveled, she has a hand resting underneath her head and another over the side of her stomach. Her hair surrounds her head as though it were a halo, and her body curls in on itself as she rests.

Her chest rises and falls gently as she breathes, her lips part slightly.

Gaara catches more than what she normally shows. He sees the bags underneath her eyes, the bruises on her skin, the bandages hiding wounds, and the single tear that rolls down her cheek and leaves him confused. She's not reacting violently and her body doesn't move, he wonders if she's actually having a nightmare or if his eyes are playing tricks on him.

She sighs in her sleep and the tear trails down the side of her face.

Then she wakes up.

Her body shoots up and the tears brimming in her eyes trickle down her face; bright blue eyes blink them away, and the back of her hands erase them from existence and leave behind nothing but trails. Her eyes are slightly red and while she sniffles and rights herself, it takes her a long moment to notice his presence but that's understandable. She's still half asleep.

"Gaara?" Her head cocks to the side and her eyes quint ever so slightly; she rubs them a couple times, just to be sure. "Whaa... How long have you been here for?" She sounds like she needs a glass of water and he would get her one, but this is his first time visiting. He doesn't know where anything is.

He shrugs, averting his gaze slightly. "You were crying."

The slight tint on her cheeks doesn't go unnoticed. "I do sometimes."

"Is it because you're sad?"

"No," She shakes her head. "I don't think I'm sad at all, it's because I just think of sad things that don't matter anymore. I... I don't even remember what I was dreaming about." He wonders whether or not he should believe her but he doesn't know how to tell when she's lying, so he leaves it be.

She's fully awake now; the bags underneath her eyes aren't as easy to notice when she's awake, and she stretches out as much as she can before relaxing into a seated position. "Do you always sleep on the floor?"

The question makes her flush; she puts a hand behind her head awkwardly and scratches at her neck. "Not usually. I think I just fell asleep while I was studying and didn't feel like getting up again."

"What were you studying?"

She shrugs. "Lots of stuff. I like to split it up that way when I get bored with one subject too much, I can switch over to the next one. It's not that hard and if I finish it before I go back to Konoha then I won't have to worry about it later. It's like homework."

"For school?"

"Kinda," She hums. "I guess you could call it that. Anyway, what are you doing up so late?"

He's passive as he sits a couple of feet away from her; nervous about getting too close but also not willing to leave just yet. "I couldn't find my bed."

She grins, it's a small smile but there's humor in her eyes as they look at him gently. "Clearly."

"I have trouble sleeping at night; I decided to visit. Is it a bad time?"

She shakes her head. "Nah, there's never a bad time to visit."

He watches her as she stands and makes her way over to the kitchen area of the apartment; he watches quietly as she opens the refrigerator and pulls out a jug of milk, it's soon followed by two mugs and a pot that's placed on the stove. "Whenever I have trouble sleeping at night, I make warm milk." She holds the jug out for him to see and makes the very obvious motion of turning the burner on and pouring a good amount of milk into the small pot.

Oddly enough, he expected her to microwave it.

Instead she lets it warm up on the stove and mixes in a good dose of another ingredient, to which he raises his brow at. "It's cinnamon sugar. If you don't like it that's fine, but you've gotta try it at least!"

His nose twitches at the scent and she soon returns to his side with a white mug in her hands, he takes it from her gently. The steam tickles his nose and makes his stomach grumble just a bit, it smells delicious. There's nothing stopping the small smile spreading across his lips as he takes his first sip; the flavor dances on his tongue and warms his stomach, it's a good feeling.

Naruto drops a pillow beside him and another on her spot; she's dragged over a large blanket over as well, and even her own mug of cinnamon milk. It smells a bit different than his own, and he curiously leans over to smell it better.

She hands it to him. "Try it! I added a little bit of vanilla to mine."

He tries it.

It's delicious.

"You can have that one then, and I'll finish yours!"

He looks up from the milk that this angel had been kind enough to bless him with, surprised, for what reason was she being so kind to him when he literally broke into his house and woke her up?

She giggles.

"Gaara, you grew a mustasche!"

He points a finger accusingly at the milk just above her lip as well.

"You have one too."

The laughter that follows is loud enough for him to join in, and when they finish their milk she insists that he spend the night.

On the floor with a mess of pillows and blankets, two empty milk mugs, and enough warmth to melt ice; Gaara has his first sleepover.

He wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Sabaku Gaara sleeps the night away.

...

It's upsetting to say the least to find out that Naruto was leaving.

She takes awhile to tell him and it's clearly hard for her to deal with as well; perhaps the way she packed her bags in the morning should've been enough for him to figure out what may or may not be going on, but a big part of him was in denial. She's been here for nearly two weeks and it feels as though it's far too early for her to leave; he doesn't want her to leave, and the thought that she has to is what makes the day go by five times faster than what it should've.

Gaara recalls waking up in the morning and enjoying the meager breakfast that Naruto had prepared for them both; she led him around by his arm and not once did she let go. They played at the park all day, ate lunch and bough snacks, played pranks on unsuspecting civilians, and laughed and giggled and ran around until they couldn't anymore.

He walks her to the gates and even offers to carry her bag, but she declines.

Uchiha Itachi is much more intimidating to meet in person; Naruto's explained multiple stories about him that were mainly focused on training, but for some reason he still wasn't sure to expect. The man stands high above their heads and looks down on them with bright red eyes that seem to scan the blonde over for any injuries or anything that might hinder their journey home.

Satisfied, he meets Naruto's energetic smile with a tired smile of his own.

There's a woman behind him, and next to that woman is a little boy who holds her leg shyly. Gaara wonders if they're family; he knows fully well that they're not Naruto's family.

"It would seem that anywhere you go, you are always making friends." He speaks smoothly; his eyes rest on the little red headed boy by her side, whom she still has her arm entangled tightly with. She doesn't look ready or willing to let him go, and instead holds him closer at the mention of their relationship. "I hope she hasn't annoyed you too much."

"Nonsense!" She roars, there's no anger in her voice but instead there's mirth in her eyes. "I'm the least annoying person in the world and you know it! This is Gaara by the way, he's just like me and we're best friends now!"

"I'm glad." He nods, and reaches out to shake the red head's hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Gaara."

He takes it shyly.

It's a warm feeling.

"I'm definitely gonna come visit again and if you ever visit Konoha you've got to let me know, okay?"

"Okay, I will."

There's one last hug, and just like that his angel is gone.

She's gone, but he'll hold onto the warmth until he can share it again.

That's a promise.

His heart kind of hurts but that's okay; he decides that the first thing he's gonna do when he gets home is write his first message, it might get there before she gets home but she'll still get it. There's the smallest of smiles on his face as he straightens himself out and runs home; the words of the other people around him fly past his ears and he pays them no mind.

They don't matter.

He doesn't care what they say, because the angel that visited Suna had chosen him and not them.

Yashamaru is concerned with Gaara bolts through the door with the intention or running right past his uncle but he's caught; the pale blonde man's eyebrows are knitted with worry and he bends down on both of his knees to talk to his nephew on his own level. "I was very worried about you, Gaara, you disappeared last night and didn't come home."

"Where were you?"

Gaara smiles.

"I had a sleepover at a friend's house."

"...What...?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Someone Like You  
 **Genre:** Hurt/Comfort, Angst, eventual Romance  
 **Characters/Pairing:** GaaraFemNaruto **  
** **Author: T** he Dark Crimson Blood  
 **Summary:** "One day, you'll meet someone just like you." Gaara doesn't believe it until he meets her; an angel inside his hell. He doesn't intend on letting her go, and maybe he'll be able to save her too.

 **Word Count: 5,989**

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto is quick to bolt away from the Uchiha family the moment they make it through the gates; it was supposed to be a vacation of sorts, but she's never been on a vacation and to her all that means is that she doesn't have to report anything in to the Hokage tower. She's fine with that; she doesn't like doing the mission reports anyway, it's boring and if she writes too long then her hand starts to hurt.

That, and spending another second with the family would have her tearing her hair out and she loved her hair.

It would've been for good reason, though.

Sasuke is an insufferable brat who constantly begs for attention and both consciously and sub consciously expects everyone to worship the very ground he walks on; he's spoiled and gets whatever he wants, treats everyone however he wants, and gets away with it because he's an Uchiha. It's all because his name makes him better than everyone else and he acts on it. Uzumaki Naruto hates people like that.

Naruto tries to get along with him, she really does because Itachi says that it would be nice if they could become friends.

His mother tells her the same thing, and again, she tries.

Then he calls her a dirty street rat like the other kids in the village would refer to her as, and she decides that there's no chance of a friendship ever starting between them. Which is fine, of course. She doesn't care for people like him anyway. Her lack of response gets him more angry than ever and somehow she's okay with that, so she ignores him.

Mikoto Uchiha is a wonderful woman but somehow it feels as though she knows more about Naruto than she lets on; frankly, it creeps the small blonde out so before long she's avoiding that woman too. After all she's not sure how to react when an adult shows her kindness. After all the only thing adults do in this village is kick her while she's down and berate her the moment they see her.

In the end Naruto ends up spending her vacation alone, and wouldn't have it any other way.

It's not until her way home that she's forced to be with them again; even then, she spends most of her time beside Itachi and doing doing very little talking despite the feeling of guilt that she gets when Mikoto's face projects both rejection and sadness at once. She'll get over it. She's got two kids and a husband and enough friends to count on all of her fingers and toes, befriending Naruto shouldn't be all that important.

It feels like it's been forever when they finally reach the village; a two day trip became a four day trip considering that both Mikoto and Sasuke are civilians, and Naruto and Itachi weren't able to move as quickly as they wanted to. Sometimes they even had to be carried; to which Naruto would slug Sasuke on her back and Itachi would get his mother. It made things go faster, if only a little.

The village gates stand big and strong and Naruto hesitates to step in because she knows what it means.

The three weeks she spent in Suna being happy would all be taken away from her the moment she stepped through the gates; people would glare and whisper and hurt her just because they could, and they knew that she wouldn't do anything about it. They knew no one would ever do anything about it.

"Are you stupid?" Sasuke asks, holding his mother's hand as they step in front of her.

His mother shoots him a glare and he ducks his head and stares at his feet while hoping that she doesn't hit him in front of her, or scold him when he gets home. She'll probably do both at home if he doesn't apologize, but the words refuse to come out. He'll just suffer the consequences later. "Sweetie, are you okay?" She asks the blonde kindly, her words are breathy and she even offers a hand should she need it.

"Here," Itachi offers his instead and Naruto takes it. "This wasn't supposed to be a mission, Naruto. You don't have to go to the tower and report to anyone and you don't have to write a report, you could do whatever you want."

They enter the gates, her grip on his hand is slightly tighter than it was outside. "Naruto, honey, would you like to come home with us for dinner? We'll order out so there's no way that you won't like anything that we eat."

She stiffens and tugs at Itachi's shoulder.

"Can I go home?"

"You may."

She disappears in a swirl of leaves.

Later that day she'll find out that entire Uchiha Clan has been murdered in cold blood, and she won't see Itachi and the few people remaining in his family for a whole month. It's okay though, she'll think. They still have each other.

For now, she returns home.

Her house is just as tiny as it ever was and so she drops her bag at the door, takes off her shoes, and goes to bed.

She has dreams about a lonely red headed boy who was once by her side.

When she wakes up, she'll feel lonely because he's not there with her.

...

 **To: Sabaku Gaara  
From: Uzumaki Naruto**

 **Hey! I just got home and I miss you lots!**

 **I'm gonna be back real soon, you'd better believe it! The chunin exams are being held in Suna this year and I'm definitely taking them no matter what! We might even get to stay a bit longer than i did this time, and maybe you'll get to meet the rest of my team- they're kinda assholes though. You'll see.**

 **Anyway how are you? Remember don't let the villagers get ya down! I've got your back and so does your uncle and even your sand! I'm ready to start throwing hands if you need me to, just saying ;)**

 **Take care!**

 **~YourBestFriendNaruto**

 **...**

"Gaara?"

A blond haired man peeks his head into Gaara's door.

There's something about him that's been different lately; while Yashamaru hasn't done much himself, Gaara seems to be a lot more accepting of the situation he's in. He doesn't get upset when the other kids refuse to play with him and instead goes off on his own and plays his own games, he builds sandcastles when he's outside and draws when he's inside. He's always been quiet, but now the silence is comfortable.

Yashamaru is a bit confused, but he's happy.

He's happy because Gaara's happy, even though he doesn't really know what turn of events occurred for him to change like this. It's a nice change, and he's grateful to the person or people that helped him make it. That being said he wasn't expecting to get a message all the way from Konoha that's addressed out to Gaara; Gaara exactly, not his father or even one of his siblings.

Gaara looks up at the new presence in his room; he'd been drawing with a lot of blue's today and Yashamaru wants to peek over his shoulder to get a look at it, but doesn't want to sour the child's mood. He prefers to wait until he's done to show him anything. "I think someone sent you a letter. It's got your name on it, but it's all the way from Konoha!"

The speed that Gaara uses to jump out of his seat and run over to Yashamaru is surprising to say the least; he looks up at his uncle with two begging eyes and politely offers both of his hands out to take the carefully sealed letter. The man hesitates before handing it off, and Gaara opens it carefully as though he were afraid to tear the envelope itself.

There's a letter inside; the handwriting is messy and there are a lot of words that look as though they'd been erased and then corrected, but Gaara's just happy to have it. He reads it over three times, and then one more after that just to make sure he doesn't miss anything. It smells like cinnamon and vanilla combined and it makes him wonder if maybe she wrote this last night, and if she had trouble sleeping even after the long trip home.

When he looks up from the message, his uncle is still there.

"Whose it from?"

"My friend."

He pauses in attempt to figure out how Gaara ever made a friend from some random kid in Konoha. "The one you hurt?"

"Yeah."

"The one you had a sleepover with?"

"Yeah."

Apparently Gaara's first friend isn't imaginary at all.

He's grateful and concerned at the same time, but he couldn't be happier.

"Do you... want to talk about her?"

Gaara looks happier than ever at the suggestion; he opens the door to his room a bit wider and for the first time in years, he invites him inside.

He talks about the girl who's just like an angel; she's got hair brighter than the sun and eyes deeper than the sea, her smiles are infectious and her laughter is warming. When she loves she loves with all of her heart and people can't help but love her back; he talks about her for hours and by the end of the day, he's ready to write back to her.

Yashamaru excuses himself to go make dinner.

Gaara starts writing his message.

...

 **To: Uzumaki Naruo**  
 **From: Sabaku Gaara**

 **I'm glad that you returned safely to your village.**

 **Perhaps the next time you visit Suna you will be able to stay over at my uncle's house; I believe that he's a nice person, and he would like to meet you.I hope as well that when you participate, I will have the chance to watch you. I wish you good luck and I hope to see you again very soon.**

 **~YourBestFriendGaara**

...

"Stop smiling, it's disgusting."

Bright blue eyes roll dramatically as the owner dodges out of the way of a sword aimed for her gut; it swipes across her mesh top and leaves her with half a shirt. It reveals tanned skin free of any battle scars; as her wounds heal too quickly to leave anything behind. She drops to her feet and kicks him all at once; he rolls back and out of the way of her next attack.

He kips up, but she's right there as soon as his feet touch the ground.

She shrinks her stance and manages to jab him with her right fist, but he grabs it before she can pull away. "I don't want to hear that from you, you emotionless creep!" She forces chakra through her legs and kicks him swiftly in the face; it sends him flying into the nearest wall and his lifeless body slumps down without the slightest twitch. She grins at her victory, wiping the blood off of her neck where he'd managed to swipe earlier. If she hadn't moved out of the way soon enough then she'd probably be running around headless right now.

Still, she stands proudly with her hands on her hips. "Bastard."

"Very good, Naruto." The sound of a cane tapping across the floor is enough to have her stiffen; she turns swiftly and ignores the pain of her injuries as she bows her head and looks straight at the ground, making eye contact is unprofessional. "Your emotions continue to get the best of you and one day they will be your downfall. You recite the creed but to you, it's meaningless. If you weren't such a value to the ROOT then I would've killed you already, do you feel lucky?"

"As lucky as I can be." She responds back, her voice a void of all emotion despite her sarcastic response.

"Hm," The man hums. "It is to my understanding that you will soon be participating in the chuunin exams with your team?" He gestures towards the two similar human shaped holes in the walls; to her left, Sai. To her right, Shin, whom she had fought earlier. "Do your best to carry your teammates through and pass, I will not have you returning as a failure."

"Understood, Danzo-sama."

He narrows his visible eye at her bowed form; his hand tightens on his staff just slightly. "You are dismissed."

"Yes sir."

She disappears in a swirl of leaves; a part of her wants to curse under her breath because her favorite shirt is ruined and now she'll have to by a new one. On another note, the endless warmth she felt from opening Gaara's letter earlier was enough to get her through the day. She'll have to miss dinner tonight but that's fine; she's too tired to make anything anyway.

All she had left to do today was brush her teeth, shower, change, study, and go to bed.

Then tomorrow she'd do everything all over again.

She wonders what Gaara's up to right now.

 **...**

 **To Gaara**

 **From Naruto**

 **I would love to meet your uncle! If he's anything like you then he's gotta be a good person. Also I don't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to watch, but I think spectators are only allowed to see the final round. I've been training super hard so you bet that I'm gonna make it, no matter what! I'm super strong, yknow.**

 **I've got a mission tomorrow and I'm kinda excited, it's my first time doing a mission outside of the village!**

 **Anyway, are you sleeping any better? I heard tea helps too, and if that doesn't work then we'll try hot chocolate!**

 **Talk to you again soon! :D**

 **~YourBestFriendInTheWholeWideWorldNaruto**

 **...**

Gaara is cleaning his room vigorously when it happens.

His older sister peeks her head into the room just in time to see him start rearranging his belongings; the bed has been pushed all the way next to the wall and the dresser is being moved out of the way as well, various blankets that have been neatly folded are placed in the middle of the floor. The dusty blond is sure that every spare pillow and blanket are in her little brother's room, as well as the stuffed animal he seemed to covet so much.

She clears her throat because he has yet to notice her; the excitement in his eyes instead of misery and anger is what throws her off. She's never seen her brother this happy before and all she can do is hope that the monster locked up inside of him hasn't driven him crazy. "Gaara?" She tries, nervously.

He drops everything he's doing; as soon as their eyes meet, his head drops. He looks at the ground and puts his hands behind his back; he looks so incredibly small here that even Temari feels a bit guilty for treating him badly. All of the fun and laughter and happiness seemed to deplete from his person the very moment she made her presence clear; it's kind of sad because in a world where Gaara has no one, he was at least supposed to have his family.

Here he was truly alone.

Yet he was smiling earlier.

"What is it?" He asks sharply; his eyes are a bit narrowed and he steels himself against her as though he's afraid to get hurt. "Tell father I'm doing fine, and that he doesn't need to check up on me anymore."

She hesitates,and stutters just a bit. "I, I was just checking up on you."

"You don't have to." He stands up a bit straighter. "I am fine."

"Why are you moving everything around?"

He stiffens, and holds his letter tighter in his hands. "I'm having a sleepover and we're gonna build a fort."

That sounded like something a normal kid would do, Temari thinks in relief. "With Yashamaru?

"No."

His sand flies forward and slams the door shut in her face.

She nearly stumbles at the force used as the door slams; she spins around just as Yashamaru puts a hand on her shoulder, his eyes full of understanding as he looks into her frantic ones.

"What just happened?"

Yashamaru smiles.

"Gaara made a friend."

"...What?"

 **...**

 **To Naruto**

 **From Gaara**

 **My uncle was really happy to hear that you wanted to meet him. Recently, my older sister has been showing up more; she asks a lot of questions when she visits, and up until now all she's ever done is avoid me. I think that there's something wrong with her. You'll see when you get here.**

 **Good luck on your mission.**

 **Be safe.**

 **~YourBestFriendInTheUniverseGAara**

 **...**

Gaara doesn't get a reply.

Instead he gets the actual thing.

Uzumaki Naruto is everything that Gaara remembers her to be.

He's thankful for that; he's not sure what might have changed her in such a short period of time, but he's happy that nothing had the chance to. He's not sure what he might've done if she came back as a completely different person; the idea kind of scares him, but he doubts that it would've changed anything between them.

He watches from his front door as she walks towards him.

"It's been forever!"

There's something special about the way her bright blue eyes light up with electricity when she sees him; she's a lot like a puppy, and proves so as she runs towards him and doesn't hesitate to wrap her thin arms around his midsection and hold him tight. She buries her face into his collarbone and takes in his scent as though it was the most alluring thing in the world; he flushes, but returns her hug with just as much force as she gives him.

Her bright blue eyes are sparkling as she releases him, and looks him up and down. "What happened? I used to be taller than you, yknow."

He remembers that. The last time she was here she was indeed, an inch or two taller but now he had at least five inches on her and could easily look over the top of her blonde hair without even having to go up on his toes. It's only been five months but he grew a lot, and she doesn't seem to have grown at all. Maybe he's just a late bloomer, he thinks.

He also wonders if she's taking care of herself properly; she's probably not, because right now she's standing in front of him with bandages wrapped around her thin form that cover her head to toe. She doesn't bring them up, so he doesn't ask about them. His angel heals fast and it's not as though there's blood seeping through the white bandages; she's not even limping.

He still worries about her.

She takes his hand in her own and holds it tight; happy to be close to her best friend after four long months apart.

"How is everything, Gaara?"

"I have been happier recently, and my uncle and I have gotten along much better." While Gaara would much rather use this time to discuss her injuries, he knows that all she'll do is change the subject. If he were to guess then the smaller ones would be from the various pranks that she liked to pull and the bigger ones were probably from reckless training or missions that didn't go completely in his favor. "I feel as though it's easier for him to be around me now."

It seems like a small achievement that's barely worth mentioning but Naruto smiles and cheers and shares the happiness she feels for him that comes all the way down from the very bottom of her heart, and speaks as though he'd just accomplished the most amazing thing in the world. "I'm glad to hear that, I was worried that you'd be alone when I left."

She breathes a sigh of relief. "Man, I'm super happy for you!"

Somehow her words made him feel weightless and warm and happy all at once.

He sits on the front step and she sits behind him; they're legs touch, and their shoulders do too. He finds solace in her presence and just being next to her like this was enough for him to find peace. "How long are you going to stay for?"

Her lips form into a playful pout and she nudges him in the side just slightly; there's enough force to jostle him a bit, but not enough to hurt him. Never enough to hurt him. "Are you trying to get rid of me already? I've only been here for like, ten minutes."

He flushes just a bit, panicking as though he's afraid that she misunderstood his words. "No! No, I didn't mean it like that."

She grins even wider; her smile is a bit mischievous as she shows off her sharp canines and the slight slant of her mouth turns her smile into a small smirk. "Don't get so serious, I'm just teasing you."

He lets out a breath that he didn't know that he was holding; his shoulders drop and the worry on his face disappears the moment he fully understands that yeah, his angel just got here but she's not going anywhere for awhile. He wasn't about to let her just show up and disappear after all; Yashamaru still kind of thinks that she's not real and he's determined to prove the man wrong.

Uzumaki Naruto is more real than anyone else he's ever known in his short, short life. "My team and I just finished taking the preliminary, and the final exams, they were super hard and I wasn't really sure what to expect but we got though. We've got two more weeks for recovery before we leave!"

"Your team?"

"Yeah! We used to get along really badly but I think we're getting better. My teacher's super young but he's the best, you met him when he came to pick me up before. He's only thirteen!"

He hums in acknowledgement. "And the others?"

"The twins; Sai and Shin. Shin's ten minutes older though. I told them about you but they don't believe me, can you believe that?" She rolls her eyes dramatically at the memory of the accusation. "They're a bit older than me and really annoying, but they don't hate me so I guess that's good."

She stumbles over her words and says something completely incoherent that Gaara can't quite pick up on, but then she shines up so brightly that it's as a light bulb appeared over her head. "You should come to Konoha sometime, I'll have the old man ask your dad. It'll be fun."

His eyes light up at the idea. "Really?"

"Yeah of course! You can stay with me the whole time; I've got my own apartment!"

Uzumaki Naruto is seven years old and the last time Gaara checked seven year old children don't live by themselves; he's seen it himself, children either stay with parents, caretakers, or at an orphanage that's less than adequate. Even Gaara himself lives with his uncle. "Do you live with anyone?"

She shakes her head. "Nope! It's just me, myself, and I! It's probably why I talk to myself so much."

"I'm sorry."

She waves him off. "Don't worry, it doesn't bother me. I'm used to it."

Angels shouldn't be able to lie.

Naruto does.

Gaara stands up abruptly and offers her a hand. "I think... I think that you've got me, so you're not alone anymore."

Her smile is small, but warm. "Okay."

She takes his hand and neither let go.

The moment is interrupted.

"Gaara is this your friend?"

The red head looks at the blonde, and then looks back up at his uncle. "No, this is my best friend."

"Best friend in the whole wide world!" Naruto clarifies, grinning.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Best Friend in the Whole Wide World."

"Nice to meet you too, Uncle!"

Gaara blinks and pulls his friend a bit closer to his side. "I told you she was real."

"Well, I'm happy for you." He pauses, smiling. "How about you and your very real best friend go upstairs while I start dinner?"

The two do just that.

...

Temari isn't sure what motivates her to go visit her little brother.

It's strange to see him changing so much; Temari doesn't fear for her life when she's around him anymore and while she's not afraid of being killed, she's afraid of losing a bond with the little brother whom she had once loved.

That being said, there's nothing anyone could've told her to prepare her to meet Gaara's angel.

They're in Gaara's room.

The blankets and pillows that had been piled up in the middle of the room now formed some sort of makeshift bed that looked big enough to fit four people, and yet the two children who occupied the area seemed intent on being as close as possible. He has his back propped up against a mountain of pillows and she's draped over his legs as though she doesn't understand what personal space is.

They both look relaxed.

Temari gets a good look at he 'angel' that her little brother has been talking about nonstop for the past five months The person he's been coped up in his room writing and reading letters for with a hidden smile and an innocent spark in his eyes that hadn't been there since he was five. For awhile everyone had believed that this girl had been an actual angel or some sort of imaginary friend Gaara created to deal with the lonliness, but here she was in the flesh and blood.

With only two meetings and a bucket load of letters; Gaara's changed.

Changed for the better.

No longer a murderous sociopath but instead her cute little brother whom she could love and tease and take care of just as she used to; all because of a meeting with some random little girl visiting from another village.

Just by looking at her, you could tell that she's special.

"When you come to Konoha, I'll take you to my favorite ramen place! It's the best in the world. you should try it! Have you had ramen before? I like Miso pork the best." She's playing with his sand as she talks; perhaps it's some kind of Chakra control exercise, but she doesn't seem fully concentrated on it.

"I've had ramen." He responds.

"Yeah, but you haven't had Ichiraku ramen!" The sand takes the shape of Katakana spelling out 'I chi ra ku' in the air. "You're gonna love it. I'll show you all my favorite spots too. Like the Hokage mountain... The lake... The boardwalk... There's too much to do! I might just have to kidnap you!"

Gaara hums. "I would not mind."

Temari clears her throat loudly and decides that it's the perfect time to cut into their conversation. "Gaara? Who might his be?"

For a moment he looks annoyed but only slightly; he's sure that he's told her a million times by now, yet she still asked the same questions.

The blonde returns the sand to his gourd with nothing more than a simple flick of her hand. "The name's Naruto!" She jumps off of bed and extends her hand towards the older girl; she's much faster than Temari can even process and for a moment she stumbles. "Nice to meetcha!"

If she had been an enemy ninja then Temari would've been dead already.

Gaara glares at his estranged older sister with the intent to kill, should he dare injure his friend in any way.

"Nice to meet you to... Naruto. We've heard a lot about you."

"You have?" She cocks her head to the side as if it's the strangest thing in the world. "I've heard a lot about you too, actually."

"Up until now we still believed he made some sort of imaginary friend... Why does he call you 'angel?'"

Gaara makes no motion to explain himself and Naruto doesn't seem to understand why either; but she shines at the word friend and the strange nickname anyway. "I don't know actually. I think it's a nickname. I've never had a good one before so I really like it."

"Angel, huh?" The pre-teen hums. "You're from Konoha right? What are you doing all the way up here? Traveling?"

"Chuunin exams." Gaara offers from his corner of the room, having already placed his book down on his bed with the intent on joining the conversation and finishing it as quickly as possible. Temari's eyes widen with the same disbelief Gaara's had shown earlier when Naruto first brought it up, covered from head to toe in injuries but smiling nonetheless.

Naruto nods her head to confirm it. "My whole team is here! They're out right now though, we've got two weeks until we have to leave."

"You're a bit young to be taking the exams, huh?" Honestly she doesn't look any older than five; small and scrawny, but faster than Temari was willing to acknowledge. How was she already testing to become a Chuunin when Temari had only just become a genin? "Is your team okay with you being the youngest?"

She shrugs. "Probably, but I'm already seven years old y'know?"

"How were the exams?"

"Crazy! It was survival training. Your village's earlier attempts at civilization is a couple miles outside of the walls and gets hit by sandstorms almost every hour; there are a bunch of abandoned buildings all over the place and you never really knew if they were going to collapse when you walked in or if the sand would knock them over." She makes big gestures with her arms. "It was kinda scary but at least it was something."

Was that what the Chuunin exams were like in Suna? "What did you have to do?"

"Since they took all of our weapons and clothing early on there were a bunch of people who had problems. We didn't have any food or water but I always have a ton of soldier pills and emergency water bottles; we probably would've died out there if I hadn't been so sneaky."

"How did you hide them? Storage scrolls? Where did you hide the scrolls?"

With a grin; she pulls her pant leg up to show the bright red Uzumaki symbol on her shoulder. "Here. It works just like a storage scroll except it's on my body. I can take it off whenever I want but it's holding my luggage."

"Do you think you passed?"

"I hope so!" She drops her pant leg. "A few of the competitors died yknow? Then we had to fight each other the next day; most of them were to weak to put up a fight, but that's understandable. Deadman's land... I really don't want to go back."

Temari doesn't want to go at all. Exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, and a complete lack of proper shelter.

It sounded like hell.

Naruto licks her dry lips. "I'm going to get you some water. Gaara, would you like anything?"

"No."

She trails after Temari and surely enough, Gaara follows shortly behind. He's a bit unhappy with the idea of Naruto leaving his side during the short period of time that she was still here for; he wanted to get in as much time with her as possible. If it looked as if he were following her around like a duckling, then so be it. That, and he really, really doesn't want Temari around her.

"Thank you very much." Naruto says with much more appreciation than what was needed to thank someone for a simple glass of water; she takes it with two steady hands and jumps up into her seat. It's a large glass but she puts her lips to it and suddenly it's halfway gone. "It's really good."

Her bright blue eyes switch from Gaara and then to Temari again until the older woman gets the hint. "I hope it's always like this."

"It's not."

Naruto polishes off the rest of the water and wipes her mouth with a very bandaged arm; her head tilts to the side and her hair falls with the movement. "It's not? "

"No," Temari shakes her head; Gaara cautiously positions himself beside his angel as though to protect her or escape from the room should the need ever come. "Perhaps now isn't the best time to talk about it, but I suppose to say our relationship isn't what it used to be."

"And you feel remorse over that fact?"

Temari nods; it's hard to avoid the piercing gaze of the little boy by Naruto's side, but she manages. "I cast him aside when he needed me the most. I treated him the same way everyone else does, and it'll be hard but I honestly want to try and make things better."

"Isn't that enough?"

"Hah?"

Naruto straightens herself out. "The bond that's formed between two people can come in many shapes and sizes; it hurts when they're broken, damaged, or even shattered beyond recognition. I think that you've gotta gather all of the pieces back together, even if it takes all the glue you have. It's a team effort, though. It's better to meet halfway than to not meet at all."

She takes hold of Temari's hand and Gaara's hand all at once.

"Family's super important, yknow. You're better together than you are apart."

The two siblings stare at each other for a good long moment, Temari's eyebrows furrow and the glare on Gaara's face seems to soften just a bit.

"I'm glad that my little brother has a friend like you."

She lights up. "Thanks! I've only got one..." _Friend_. "But he means a lot to me."

"She's sleeping in my room."

No one argues with him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Someone Like You

 **Genre:** Hurt/Comfort, Angst, eventual Romance  
 **Characters/Pairing:** GaaraFemNaruto **  
** **Author: T** he Dark Crimson Blood  
 **Summary:** "One day, you'll meet someone just like you." Gaara doesn't believe it until he meets her; an angel inside his hell. He doesn't intend on letting her go, and maybe he'll be able to save her too.

 **Word Count: 5,004**

* * *

They were supposed to be best friends.

Mikoto Uchiha blames herself.

The death of Kushina and Minato was hard on her whole family. They'd made so many plans and promises only for everything to be taken away in one night; leaving nothing more than sadness and misery in it's wake. She had feared that Naruto died alongside her parents that night but what they did to her was even worse; Minato had wanted her to be seen as a hero but instead they saw her as the Kyuubi itself.

Uzumaki Naruto was doomed the moment she was born.

What a horrible fate for such a tiny little thing.

Mikoto would've visited her sooner but she was scared. Scared because Naruto was almost an exact replica of both of her parents; not just one, both of them. Minato with his bright blonde hair and tan skin, and Kushina with her round face and bright blue eyes. It was scary. The orphanages she grew up in put no effort into properly caring for her; only touching and giving her the least bit of attention when it was necessary.

She grew up lonely and miserable.

Really, it's a miracle that she didn't die from it.

By the time she was just four years old; Sasuke met her for the first time.

At the playground. She's a lot like a shiny object and kids were generally attracted to sparkly bright things; Naruto was no exception. She's shy. The girl follows Sasuke around like a lost duckling and listens to everything he has to say and tries to do everything that he does; she's not good at staying still, she's a bad reader, and doesn't understand many big words but he uses them anyway.

It's a start.

Mikoto's happy with it.

They're not quite best friends but they're kinda like friends.

Naruto trails off after Sasuke with her head down like a lost duck and Sasuke gladly leads her by the hand, sometimes by the arm. When they start going to the academy together the next year things change. The other kids approach Sasuke about playing with the demon. The monster. The dirt poor orphan. The single stain in a village full of perfection. The list goes on and on and before long he doesn't want to play with Naruto anymore.

Well, he does, but he doesn't tell anyone else that.

No one likes her and she's not good enough to be his friend. _He tells himself. He's an Uchiha. Surrounding himself by the right people was what it took to be one._

Having been friends for nearly two whole years and playing together once or twice a week had done wonders for Naruto; who had no other source of positive physical or emotional contact. She had looked absolutely crushed when she arrived at Mikoto's house in the same baggy old clothes she always wore; Sasuke called her a street rat.

Then he proceeded to beg his mom to stop inviting Naruto over because he didn't want her around anymore.

Naruto goes from being kinda-alone to being completely alone all over again.

She doesn't go to the Uchiha compound ever again.

Mikoto wonders about the marriage contract and hopes, prays, and begs for things to change again.

Today seven year old Naruto walks past her in the street; hands shoved deep into her pockets as a yawn forces it's way out of her mouth. It was still a big shock to her and her husband that Naruto had passed both the Genin exams at seven and the Chuunin exams at eight; not many people knew about it. The Hokage and a select few had decided not to talk about it until she got older; this was her only freedom after all.

She hesitates to talk to the small child. "N-Naruto? How have you been lately? It feels like I haven't seen you in forever."

The girl spins around but doesn't approach the woman, choosing instead to stand off to the side and keep her feet facing in a different direction. "I'm fine." Her voice doesn't rise or fall as she talks. "I'm busy and I don't really go around the Uchiha compound a lot, so that's probably why."

"You should stop by more. Itachi still worries that you won't join him and the rest of your team for dinner tonight at the compound; we're having all sorts of dishes. I'm sure you'll like it. Even Sasuke speaks as though he wants you to join us."

The girl shakes her head; blonde ponytail swinging back and forth along with her. "Thank you very much for the invitation but I have to decline; I have important matters to deal with at the moment. Perhaps I will be more available next time." Listening to her speak hurts; Naruto sounds much more like an adult than even Itachi did at this age.

"It's no problem. I do hope you will be able to join us one of these days."

A single nod. Eyes shift to the right. "Yes. I hope so too. I'll be on my way, then."

She spins and continues walking as if the conversation never happened.

Mikoto's heart aches.

...

Adults run the world, and children are merely pawns that follow.

That being said; a deal is proposed between the Hokage of the leaf village and the Kazekage of the sand.

Uzumaki Naruto signed the contract yesterday; she skims through it after along mission and tiredly signs it without bothering to read the whole thing, and Gaara signs it the moment he hears that he'll be able to see his friend for years at a time.

It's early in the morning when Gaara makes his way down the streets with the information that his father had been kind enough to share with him at the last moment; he's upset, but happy at the same time. The idea of staying in Konoha for a year is sad because he'll miss Yashamaru and his siblings have been trying really hard to get along with him recently, so it feels as though their progress might regress the moment he returns.

At the same time he's happy.

He's happy because he has the chance to live beside his angel, his best friend, his savior from the hell called loneliness. He keeps his head up and marches through the street with the shadow of a smile on his face; his heart beats excitedly in his chest, and the villagers don't say a single cruel world to him as he passes them by. It's strange and it might take a while to get used to but the fact that people are kind to him here, only makes him feel happier that he's not leaving.

He turns down an alley.

Is this really supposed to be Naruto's house?

It's definitely a strange place for anyone to live.

The apartment building seemed to be mostly abandoned. In some places it looked as if it would break down any second; collapsing in on itself and killing everyone inside. Even though he's considered a demon at home; the house he lived in before was never as bad as this. Yashamaru's house was bright and warm and cozy and safe, above all else.

There's no lock. Surly it wasn't as if he could go right inside, but it was tempting just to see if it was possible. Instead, he brings his small hand to the door and gently knocks. The doorbell doesn't work. Just knocking forces the door open a slight bit, and a loud crash on the other side lets him know that there must have been something on the other side.

Probably set up to make sure there was some sort of security.

Gaara steps back as the door swings open a bit further and a small child who looks to be around his age, hides behind it nervously. He'd been a bit reluctant to knock on the door; afraid that he'd gotten the address wrong and showed up at a completely different place all together. Though just the sight of his angel is enough to take the nervousness off of his shoulders.

Her bright blue eyes widen and her pupils dilate slightly; why had she been scared before? Worried? Wary? "Gaara!" She wraps her arms around his neck and buries her face into his chest; it's been a whole year since they've seen each other, so he can't help but smile back. She feels warm in a good way; a strange feeling of giddiness has him hugging her back just as tightly.

"Angel," He breathes as she pulls him into the door. The light is a bit better on the inside. She's not wearing her usual uniform today; the bright black, green, and dark blue Chuunin uniform that seemed to be the standard for Konoha ninjas. Right now she stood before him as a skinny little thing with clothing too big and too small all at once; he knew that people neglected to take care of her, but he had no idea it was this bad.

She looks as if she's already had a long day; a couple bandages on her limbs make him question what happened, but she's happy right now and he is too. It would be a shame to ruin it. Bright blue eyes shift towards the tightly packed backpack that's been slung over his friend's shoulder; she flushes, embarrassed as she takes his bag.

Before he knows it, she's taken his hand and dragged him into her little apartment. The door closes behind them and she promptly takes the bag off of his shoulders, leaning slightly to the side as the new weight rests in her arms. "I cleaned up. It's still kinda small. There's only one bedroom, but it's yours."

Walking past the living room, Gaara catches sight of the couch in the corner. It's covered in thin blankets and shabby pillows; almost looking as if Naruto had made it into some sort of makeshift bed. It's strange; did she intend on sleeping there instead of sharing the room with him?

"Here we go!" She swings the door open to the closed bedroom and stands against it, waiting for him to enter. Bright blue expecting eyes wait for him to start moving again; they seem to shine brighter when he does.

The room isn't as bad as he thought it would be.

Everything looked new and unused. The sheets on the bed were a dulled shade of blue and green, the pillows were a dark blue, and there was a white blanket folded on the end of it.

The closest was empty; full of plenty of space for him to place his belongings in, and cleaned to the point where there isn't a single speck of dust around. There's a small cactus on the windowsill, and two sunflowers on either side of it.

Naruto puts his bag down in the middle of the room, shyly shuffling back towards the door as if she's not sure what to do from this point on. "Um, I hope you like it. I wasn't sure what to do to... um... I know living with me is going to suck but... I hope this makes it better?"

Gaara really isn't sure what to say. "Thank you."

It's small and seemingly insignificant, but it means everything to his little blonde angel. Her eyes sparkle and she smiles, big and wide. "You're welcome!"

Naruto doesn't move from the doorway, and instead seems content with waiting just outside of the room as if not to invade his personnel space. This was his room now, after all. Not hers. "There's a park really close by, I could take you sometime if you wanna make friends. I could show you where everything is too.. and I'm not the best chef but you can leave cooking to me."

It still sounds as if she's trying to fill the silence. Has she really become that used to it?

Gaara finishes putting his clothing away; it's an easy task and he didn't bring that much with him to begin with. He's got enough money with him to last; especially considering that he didn't have to deal with house expenses or anything like that. To be honest, this was nowhere near as bad as he thought it was going to be.

It may be his first time in Konoha but he's never felt this welcomed this before.

"I'm really loud sometimes and I talk a lot, but if you tell me I'll stop okay? Just let me know." She pauses, looking at her bare feet for the longest of moments. "Is there anything you wanna do today?"

 _No, not really._ He's been on his feet all day and the idea of going out some more sounded even more exhausting; that, and the idea of the children in another village finding out what he was didn't sound fun at all. He would much rather prefer staying inside. "No."

She deflates a bit, looking a lot like a puppy that's been kicked by it's owner for no reason. "Okay. I'll go start dinner, then."

"Please," He begins; a hand outstretched to cup his angel's cheek. "Do not change your personality when something bothers you. Talk to me as I have talked to you, many times when I was in need."

Her shoulders release tension that even she herself, didn't seem to know that they'd been holding. "I know we're supposed to be engaged now; but I'm not sure how to act. I've never lived with anyone before and in Konoha... I'm afraid their hate for me will extend onto you if they see you around me too much."

"That's silly." If she had fearlessly spent time with him and stood up for him in Suna, then why would things be any different here? Why would she think that he would back down when she was the one who needed help? Wait.

He pauses.

The graffiti on her door.

The look of disgust on the landlords face when Gaara said her name.

The reason Naruto was living all by herself in the first place.

He stiffens. "Why, do you live alone?"

"I just do." She's blunt, as always. "I'm a bit of a troublemaker too but that's it. People just got tired of me causing trouble and decided to leave me on my own." It's not a complete lie; the reason she'd been kicked out of the orphanage in the first place was because of all the pranks she liked to play on the caretakers when she had nothing more to do.

It was kind of funny, actually.

Not really though.

Silence falls upon the two of them and so the blonde cheerfully dismisses herself, spinning around again and heading for the kitchen. Perhaps it's by habit that she leaves the door open, or maybe she knows what it's like to be surrounded by so much silence that it becomes suffocating. Either way, Gaara is grateful.

And much more interested in learning more about her.

He also had no intent of taking up the entire bedroom while his angel slept on the couch.

...

School has never really been an option for someone like Gaara.

Teachers were too afraid to teach him and kids were terrified to be around him, which meant that he had to rely on his uncle or his terrified caretakers. He had just assumed that it would be the same here, and yet he's awake early in the morning with his new housemate.

Much like dinner the other night, breakfast is simple. A bowl of fruit and a cup of tea; nothing like Gaara was used to but much less overwhelming.

He slowly sips at his half empty glass of orange juice, Naruto herself seems to be drinking water and munching on nothing more than a handful of banana slices. With a content sigh, she stands up with her empty plate and cup and ditches the dirty dishes into the sink.

It doesn't take her long to wash them, and by the time she's done Gaara's finished as well. "I bought you extra clothes too! I'll change after the dishes are done."

"Okay."

She turns the water back and starts washing dishes again, humming as she gives them a brief scrubbing and then stacks them into the dish rack to dry. Gaara lingers for a moment; eyes locked on her small frame as she washes out the sink, and even wipes down the table.

By the time she finishes she turns, smiling. "What? Are you nervous?"

"A bit."

"Don't be! I'm here."

Gaara feels relieved.

Surly enough; Naruto disappears into the bathroom to change and Gaara makes his way into his bedroom for the same reason, leaving the door open just a crack as he enters. He never closes any door in this house the whole way and neither does Naruto; both of them do to for the same reason, it's an unspoken rule that they both abide by.

There are plenty of options for Gaara to choose from when shuffling through all the clothing in his closet. In the end he decides on a pair of black cargo pants, a dark green shirt, and his favorite green wrap to go around his neck and rest just past his shoulders.

 _'This is okay... right?'_ He glances towards himself in the mirror, brushing a few bed hairs back into their proper place before giving a satisfied sigh.

Frowning, he exits the room and comes face to face with a twin tailed blonde who seems to be wearing the typical heat casualty outfit. A bright orange jumpsuit that covers everything from her neck down, and a small black bag slung over her shoulder.

She taps him on the shoulder and points at the door, where both his old shoes and a pair of new black sandals sit next to them. On the other side are blue sandals that look to be a bit smaller, and another pair of black ones. "Ready?"

He nods, choosing to the go with the black sandals that Naruto undoubtedly bought for him.

The apartment stairs are just as creaky as always; Naruto seems to be content with bouncing down excitedly, Gaara doesn't share the same death wish. He tightens his grip on the rail every time she shakes the metal staircase. "I'll show you the normal way to go today, and then you can show me how to get home later."

Gaara does little more than nod his head in agreement, even though he would much rather prefer the ally's that Naruto seemed to want to go down in the first place. The commute from the apartment to school isn't much longer than five minutes at a leisurely pace. Other than a couple of glares and hushed whispers that the adults think that they can't hear, everything goes well.

Naruto hums and feigns obliviousness. After a particularly harsh whisper directed at her and not him, Gaara turns his attention to her face just as her smile twitches and stretches up even further. She was a good liar. While Gaara wanted a happy childhood with love and affection, Naruto seems to have given up on it completely. They're so alike that it's painful. _She's been alone this whole time._

No family, no friends, and no one to take care of her.

How long has it been like this?

It's hard to believe that she doesn't care.

Gaara thinks that she's just a good liar, and he's not wrong.

Maybe at one point during his angel's life; she wanted a normal happy childhood. Maybe she used to look at the other children with their parents and wonder what it was like to have a family, surrounded by people who loved them while she was all alone.

That was the difference between them.

Gaara knew what it was like to have a family; he'd fought to get it back and now things were better than ever but Naruto, she's given up on the idea completely. It's almost as though she thinks that it's impossible for someone like her; she's been alone for her whole life, after all. No family, no friends, and no one to take care of her. _"It's just me, myself and I. It's fine, I'm used to it."_

He bumps into a woman standing outside the school gates; the clipboard in her hand falls to the ground as he falls against her leg and quickly rights himself before he falls. The glare on her face is heavy but it's not directed towards him, instead her angry green eyes rest on Naruto. "You little monster! I have half the mind to tell your teachers for pushing the other kids around! You're not even supposed to be here today!"

Naruto shrugs, putting a hand behind her head and grinning sheepishly. "Sorry Ma'am. I wasn't watching where I was going. I'm just escorting a new student today; he lives next to me and I was the only one who could take him."

Scowling further, the woman takes Gaara's hand and leads him down the hall while Naruto follows at a much slower pace, concentrated on remaining as quiet as possible.

By the time they finally make it to the classroom Gaara has seen everything from the playground outside to the locker rooms inside; the building isn't very confusing, and he seems to be in all the same classes as Naruto. For that, he's grateful.

He's grateful for a lot of things that Naruto's done for him so far.

"Go ahead," She urges, holding the door open to the loud classroom full. Naruto doesn't say anything more; her eyes sparkle in a way that tells him that everything's going to be okay. He's got nothing to worry about. "You'll be fine."

The hand on his back is much more encouraging than forceful. Nodding in her direction, Gaara steps into the classroom and multiple pairs of eyes land on him questioningly. He swallows, a bit nervous. "You've gotta be the new kid right?!"

"He's kinda cute..."

"I knew it'd be a boy, I told you!"

"Hey, come sit with us."

Gaara trails up through the seats and finds himself comfortable with a brown haired boy; there's a puppy stuffed into his shirt, and there are two marking on both sides of his face. "I can just tell you're not from Konoha. Did you just move here?"

Feeling his shoulders relax at the simpleness of it all, the red headed boy nods. "Yes. I left my home village, and arrived in Konoha yesterday."

"A foreigner? That's so cool!" One of the girls squeal from afar, eavesdropping on a conversation that she wasn't a part of in the first place. "Which village? I've never seen someone with red hair like yours before."

"Suna. I took a couple of days to get here."

A couple gasps echo through the room at the idea of someone traveling all the way from Suna to move to Konoha; they have a lot of questions that they want answered, but not enough time to ask them all. The teacher claps his hands together; a terrifying expression takes over his face that shuts everyone up almost instantly.

With silence and control over his classroom, he takes a seat and smiles kindly. "It would seem as if we have a new student joining us today. Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Nodding, the seven year old stands up and speaks above the silence. "My name is Sabaku Gaara. I'm from Suna and will be staying in Konoha for a year; it is a pleasure to meet everyone."

Giving a bow, the class claps as he sits down and the teacher nods in satisfaction. "Very good, Gaara. It's a pleasure to meet you as well and I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends while you're living in Konoha. Now, let's begin today's lesson."

His brown eyes make contact with dull blue ones, staring at him hauntingly before closing the classroom door and disappearing down the hall.

Perhaps it was a little to late to reach out to her.

That, however, did not mean that Iruka would not stop trying.

The rest of the day goes by; it's fairly uneventful.

A couple of basic classes here and there followed by recess and lunch; Gaara blends into the group almost as if he were a puzzle piece to their incomplete picture. Kiba wraps an arm around his shoulders and tells him a joke that he doesn't laugh at; instead of getting upset, the Inuzuka slaps his back and jokes about his blank face. While Gaara's face is still an empty canvas, it looks as if he's honestly enjoying himself.

Good. That's the way things are supposed to be.

The other children invite him to the playground after school but he turns them down. "I'm waiting for someone."

That someone shows up with a bright smile and big innocent eyes. "Well? Did ya make a lot of friends? They went to the park? You should've gone with them!" She urges, looking a bit upset with his decision to wait for her.

"With you?"

She shakes her head. "No, silly! They don't like me at all so I'll just head home. I've gotta make dinner too y'know?"

Somehow she seemed to be handling the same situation Gaara was in days ago much better than he ever did; she brushed away her burden as if it were nothing, pretending to care when really she was probably five times as lonely than anyone else. She'd never had a family like him. It was because of her that his siblings loved him again; if it hadn't been for her...

Gaara feels a bit guilty about running off to play with the other kids.

"Can't you stay?"

She hums. The pleading in her look in his eyes makes it hard to say no; so she sends a clone home to make dinner while she herself sits against a tree and watches the other kids run around.

If she closes her eyes for long enough and pretends then it's almost as if she's playing with the other kids too; her ears pick up on the laughs, jokes, and feet shuffling around in the mulch. Naruto's always been fine on her own; but damn, it would sure be nice...

A ball hits her in the face and makes her think otherwise.

"Ahaha! You hit the demon!"

"Run!" Another child screams, a girl with bright pink hair. "She's gonna eat us!"

Her pale blonde friend grabs her and they run off with a blue shirted boy who glares for a long second, before joining in the game of running away from the demon.

Kiba's with him. Gaara questions him first. "She's hurt, isn't she? Look. She's bleeding."

"Don't. Even the adults are afraid of her. She's a demon!" He whispers loudly.

Gaara doesn't even have a chance to walk towards her before the blonde stands up, turns around, and walks away.

"I'm going home."

He runs. No one tries to stop him.

Naruto has already made dinner by the time he gets home; he leaves his shoes at the door and his stomach rumbles at the smell of mixed vegetables and soy sauce being cooked on the stove top. Again, it would seem that his spot has a plate an empty plate and an empty bowl while hers only had a bowl.

She greets him with a smile even though there are paper towels stuffed up her nose; probably to stop the bleeding after the ball smacked her in the face. "Why," He begins, nervously. "Why do they treat you like that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She jumps down from her step stool and puts a hand on his shirt, pressing onto the fabric until he can feel her whole hand on his stomach. "We're the same. You're a Jinchuuriki just like me; but I have nine tails, and you have one."

He's not sure how to respond to how lightly she seems to be taking this. "It's obvious that they'd hate me, but they don't have to hate you here."

"But,"

She shakes her head. "Go wash your hands! It's dinner time~"

That night for dinner Naruto eats a bowel of rice with an egg and a bit of soy sauce on top.

Gaara has hamburger steak, rice, and fried vegetables.

It's delicious.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Someone Like You

 **Genre:** Hurt/Comfort, Angst, eventual Romance  
 **Characters/Pairing:** GaaraFemNaruto **  
** **Author: T** he Dark Crimson Blood  
 **Summary:** "One day, you'll meet someone just like you." Gaara doesn't believe it until he meets her; an angel inside his hell. He doesn't intend on letting her go, and maybe he'll be able to save her too.

 **Word Count: 4,862**

* * *

It's kind a weird morning.

When Gaara wakes up, there's a shadow clone watching over him.

There are twenty shadow clones throughout the house studying various materials, three cleaning the house, and two preparing both breakfast and his boxed lunch for him. He sits down to a meal by himself and allows his taste buds to savor the hearty breakfast; its a bit unsettling that there are so many Naruto's in the same place, and yet not a single one is real.

She had mentioned that she would be away training this morning, but she never said anything about leaving a billion shadow clones behind in her place. It's not quite the real thing, but it's a hundred times better than waking up alone in an apartment all by himself. Sure, he's the only one eating but he's not completely alone. Two of the clones especially have taken to his side while the others train and study.

"We're gonna walk you to school today, okay?"

"Okay," He acknowledges; they take his empty dishes away from him and his shoes and bag are already prepared by the door so he doesn't have much else to do than grab his things and let them lead him out of the apartment.

The door closes behind them but it's never locked; the lock doesn't work, but no one is stupid enough to break in so it's' not anything to worry about. Gaara only turns back once as one of the clones inside jumps to her feet, cheers, and declares that she figured something out before the rest. She disappears in a puff of smoke and every clone seems to know exactly what she was talking about.

"It's training," One of the clones at his side says, taking his hand in her own while the clone on his left does the same. "Shadow clones are completely different from regular clones; when they disperse, whatever they learned is transferred to the original. If we have hundreds, or maybe a thousand clones training each day on different things then a lot more progress is made."

Gaara frowns in thought; like most people, he was unaware that shadow clones could be used this way. "Does everyone train like that?"

"No, it's dangerous. The chakra exhaustion, physical exhaustion, and mental exhaustion is all too much to handle for a regular ninja but Naruto's reserves are far bigger than normal. The overload of information used to knock her out for a couple of days but she's learned to subconsciously process it and keep only what's important."

"She's always training.

"It's the only way to become strong."

"Why does she want to become strong?"

"To protect her important people." The clone pauses, tightening her grip on Gaara's hand. "People like you, Gaara."

He flushes, just a bit.

"When is Naruto coming back?"

"She should be done with her training around lunchtime and later on she'll be able to pick you up from school, if you'd like that. I mean... If you don't want to go play with friends or anything.

"I don't want to play today." He shakes his head stubbornly.

"Then I'll be there for sure."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, Pinky promise."

Gaara uses both of his pinkies just outside the school; he feels warm when he's hugged, even though he knows full well that they're nothing more than clones and not the real thing at all. They bid him goodbye and all of a sudden he's standing outside school alone; they've long since disappeared down the street and he wants to go with them but he's already here.

School is important.

He turns.

Someone nearly knocks into him, but their shoulders miss by nothing more than a centimeter.

It's a black haired boy with an angry glare; Gaara takes a step away from him. "Why are you walking to school with the idiot?"

"The idiot?" He frowns.

"Naruto. The dumb blonde from before."

"We're friends," He says. "We're best friends."

"Naruto doesn't have any friends."

Gaara decides that he doesn't like this person; this boy who liked to stand with his held held high and delusion that he's better than everyone else just because of his name. He doesn't want to talk to him and he doesn't want to hear anything about Naruto come from his over privileged mouth. "She has me, so she doesn't need anyone else."

He side steps the Uchiha boy who does little more than stare after him with his mouth agape, and a slight twitch in one of his eyes.

"She's too good for someone like you."

For once in his life, Sasuke isn't sure what to say.

...

"That's the spirit!"

Naruto sweats profusely as she stares up at the sky; a hand resting over her forehead to keep the spare liquid out of her eyes as he body desperately attempts to cool down. Working with Gai and Lee is exhausting; adding hundreds of shadow clones to the mix only helped to make things worse, and each and every time Naruto was stuck on the ground, immobile, for at least fifteen minutes.

Lee offers her his canteen and she takes it with a shaky hand; the chakra exhaustion and physical exhaustion makes it hard for her to focus and she brings the container to her lips, but it's upside down. The slightly older boy smiles and corrects it for her; she chugs down as much water as possible before coughing, wiping her mouth, and handing it back to him. "Thanks...!"

"it's always a pleasure to train with you, Miss Naruto. You are a truly youthful being!"

"I agree!" Gai's smile sparkles as he joins the conversation. "Your training methods are truly something to admire; it's not everyday that you see someone like you, who might be able to make as many shadow clones as there are villagers!"

"I myself, am very grateful that you've allowed me to train with you for so long." She pulls herself to her feet and accepts Lee's helping hand when she stumbles. "I've always admired your Taijutsu style and while it's not for me, it is definitely helping me build and flesh out my own style. My Taijutsu style would be nowhere near where it is now, if it wasn't for your help."

Gai cries tears of joy. "I'm honored to have such youthful students!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Naruto sweat drops as the two embrace; as mucha s she would like to stay and train a bit more, frankly she's exhausted. There's dirt, blood, and sweat all over her and right now she could definitely use a shower. She bids them farewell and quickly heads home; it's empty, save for the group shadow clones that still seemed to be actively studying the scrolls that they started working on this morning.

"How's it going, intelligence?"

"We've been working on intermediate to advanced wind techniques; they've already been handed over to the ninjutsu group and they've been working on it for the past two hours. You've learned two new techniques so far and at the moment we're trying to figure out how to better merge wind chakra with everyday techniques; at some point we hope to be able to merge your wind style and water style together."

The original's eyes sparkle. "That's great! How about the shadow clones?"

"We still haven't found a way to keep them active while you're asleep, but we've made some progress on solidifying them and given them a chance to survive after more than just a single hit in battle. They'll be a lot more useful if they only disappeared after exhausting their chakra, but it might take a bit more to create them."

She nods in approval.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"You've got thirty minutes before you need to pick up Gaara from school. I believe that he was upset that you weren't able to take him, but was very excited to hear that you would be picking him up."

"Gotcha!"

It takes only ten minutes for her to shower, change, and brush her hair before she's ready to run off again. "Tell the Sealing and the Genjutsu branch that they're done for the day; Ninjutsu needs to keep training for another hour, and the Taijutsu branch needs to report to stealth ASAP!"

The leader of the intelligence group is distinguished by a single blue bandanna; the whole group can be told apart from the others by their short hair and blue wristbands. "Yes Ma'am!" She salutes and the original returns it with a lopsided smile.

"Keep up the good work!"

There's no reason to rush.

The school isn't far and Naruto knows the quickest way to get there; normally she's move through the alleyways but she's walking alone right now, so she takes to the rooftops instead. There's less of a chance of running into anyone when you're jumping from roof to roof; even if all she's avoiding are a couple drunkards or stray animals that liked to roam, it's worth the extra effort.

That, and she likes the way the sun hits her perfectly without anything blocking it out.

She makes it just as the school bell rings, signaling the end of class and dismissal of students. Naruto hops down from the nearest roof with ease and though she tries her hardest not to draw attention to herself it's hard; she stands out like a sore thumb no matter what she's doing or where she is. There's not a single child or adult in the entire village that has golden hair that's anything like hers; the same can be said for her deep blue eyes, and the whisker marks on her face. The fact that everyone knew her as the Kyuubi brat doesn't help much either.

She pays them no mind as she heads for the lone swing that she was once very familiar with in the past.

Last time she sat on it and waited for no one.

This time she's waiting for a friend.

He's easy to pick out of a crowd; no one has red hair quite like his, and while his friends say goodbye to him he's much too busy searching the crowd. His eyes flicker left and right and he holds his hands in front of him as the uncertainty shows clearly on his face; she's about to get up and call him over, but then their eyes meet.

He's by her side in an instant. "Are you a shadow clone?"

She shakes her head and scoots over as far as she can to the side of the swing; patting the open area as though offering him a seat beside her. "Nope, I'm the real deal."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

He sits down on her left so that she's on his right; their hands connect shortly after their elbows hook. "Is this your swing?"

"It used to be." Her eyes have a slightly downcast look to them; he wonders if she's remembering the days when she used to come to the academy and sit there, watching as all the other children went home with their parents or siblings, while she had no one. He wonders what it feels like to be completely alone like that but at the same time he doesn't want to know; he doubts that he's strong enough to handle something like that.

If there was anything that could properly describe his angel, it would be strong.

"What's it like at school? Do you have a lot of friends?"

There's genuine curiosity in her eyes as she inquires about something that Gaara would've never thought to share; he's not sure what to say or how to start, but he lets himself relax beside her. It doesn't need to be this complicated. "It's nice. I enjoy the way Mr. Umino handles the class."

"Mr. Umino as in Umino Iruka?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," She waves it off. "What are the kids like?"

"I do not have a lot of friends, but I have a few really good ones. If I were to name three specifically they would have to be Kiba, Shino, and Shikamaru. I would like to be able to introduce you to them one day."

She smiles. "What are they like? I know Kiba well enough already, but what about the others?"

"Shino is often left out due to the bugs inhibiting his body, but he is very kind. He isn't very talkative, but the silence is enjoyable." He looks satisfied with his explanation. "Shikamaru himself is very quiet, he asks about you sometimes. He says that you're welcome to join us whenever we play outside."

"Shikamaru said that, huh?"

"Yeah."

She hums; her head lulls against his shoulder and stays there. The exhaustion in her eyes is much more severe than it was just a minute ago; he wonders if she's getting sick, or maybe he hadn't noticed just how tired she was before now. "Is it taxing to create that many shadow clones at once?"

Her head bobs. A yawn forces it's way outside of her throat and she doesn't bother to stop herself. "Whenever a big group of shadow clones dispel, I get their knowledge and exhaustion all at once. I'm getting better at handling it though."

"Did a group just dispel now?"

She nods. "Two groups."

"Is it dangerous?"

"A bit, but I can handle it."

"Do you have to train with shadow clones?"

"No, but it makes things easier."

"Do you need a second?"

"Yeah."

He leans his head against hers.

There's silence.

Naruto falls asleep against his shoulder and Gaara has his eyes closed by the time all of the students and most of the teachers have left; for awhile he basks in the peaceful silence surrounding them, the slight breeze that blows through his hair, and the sound of Naruto's soft breathing. The only thing that disturbs them is a hushed voice that's just barely herd over the silence.

"It's getting late, make sure you get home before it gets too dark."

It's Iruka.

He blinks up at the man who's crouched in front of them; it looks as though he's been watching for awhile, but Gaara doesn't want to think about it. He jostles a bit and wakes Naruto out of her light slumber; her eyes blink slowly, but it doesn't take her long to be fully aware of the situation. She stands from the swing and brings Gaara with her.

Remembering Naruto's obvious distaste for this man, Gaara brings his friend behind him slightly. "We'll be leaving now, teacher."

Their hands are still connected; it brings a smile to Iruka's face. "I'm glad that you were able to make a friend, Naruto."

Her blue eyes stare at him piercingly. "Are you, though?"

His smile falls.

She tugs Gaara away from the man.

"Let's go."

"Okay."

Gaara holds her hand just a bit tighter the moment they turn the corner; her bright blue eyes shoot to the ground and she swallows, if only to get her words together to provide a good answer to the curiosity that the redhead was emitting. Her shoulders drop as she sighs; she knows that he knows about her clear dislike for the man who was once her previous instructor, but she never explained why.

He cocks his head to the side. "Do you hate him?"

"No," She shakes her head. "It just hurts to be around him. I told you, right? He used to be my teacher when I was in the academy and he hated me just like all the other adults did; his parents... they died in the Kyuubi attack and..."

"He blames you for it." Gaara finishes. He's all to familiar with the situation.

"I think it was more my fault than anything; when I started I went in thinking that everything would be different than it was outside the academy, but it wasn't. I just kept hoping for things that would never happen; he treated me just like all the other adults and put me down whenever he could. The other instructors were hard to deal with, but Iruka was supposed to be my teacher. Everyone would bully and blame me for things that I didn't do, but he didn't think twice about it."

"I ended up being pulled out of school, so now I just kinda do my best to avoid him. I think at some point he accepted the fact that the Kyuubi attack and the death of his parents are two incidents that I had no involvement in; so while he used to blame me, he doesn't anymore."

A small frown stretches across his face. "I don't think that any of that is your fault."

"I think it is. I had expectations and I assumed things."

"Is it easier to blame yourself?"

"What?"

"Nothing."

...

Naruto sleeps like the dead when she knows she's safe.

Gaara's thankful for that; it's the only reason that she's able to stay asleep when he wakes up with a jolt big enough to shake the whole bed. His eyes frantically pan her still form and he watches her chest rise and fall briefly before deciding that everything's okay; he can go back to bed, and she'll still be there when he wakes up. She's got an arm lazily resting on his side and one of her legs seems to be twisted into his own. He wonders if she always sleeps peacefully like this, but at the same time knows that she's prone to nightmares just like his own.

A glass of water would be really nice right now, Gaara decides.

He stares at the ceiling for a moment as though deciding whether it was worth getting out of bed for; he's comfortable right now, and he's probably gonna wake up completely if he makes a trip all the way to the kitchen and back. His chest falls as he sighs and makes the decision to get out of bed; he's slow to leave bed, and quiet as he exits the bedroom. He makes sure to leave the door just halfway open as he goes.

There are voices in the kitchen.

They belong to Naruto, but Naruto's in bed.

He peaks his head around the corner just slightly and catches sight of three shadow clones; two of which are sitting at the kitchen table, and one who's made herself comfortable atop the counter. "I think we overdid it yesterday."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, we did have six different groups yesterday. It's a bit of an information overload if you ask me."

"I was asking you."

"Technically, you're asking yourself."

"You're an idiot."

"That makes you an idiot too!"

The clone on the counter top clears her throat. "Gaara's sleeping upstairs; please don't wake him, he has school tomorrow. Could we also get back on track? I'd like to know the plan for today without all the arguing."

The room quiets down. "Let's review. Yesterday the plan was to make six different groups to train six different subjects at once; each group had forty five clones consistently. The idea was to dispel each group a couple of hours apart to make the overload more tolerable. I definitely think it helped, but it was still too much information to handle."

"I think that the maximum amount of groups at once should be four."

"Then how do we decide what to train on?"

"We've got six different groups total; Intel, Stealth, Chakra Control, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu. I think it would be best to organize them from highest priority to lowest, one being the highest and six being the lowest."

"Chakra control should be one."

"I think Ninjutsu should be two."

"Above Taijutsu?"

"Taijutsu is basically muscle memory, we just need to send a shit ton of shadow clones to train with Gai and we're set. Ninjutsu take a bit more time, and a lot more patience."

"Intel should be number three."

"Intel is four, Taijutsu five, and Genjutsu is six since we'll never be good at it anyway."

All three clones give their own sign of approval. "Now that we finally have that figured out, which groups are training today?"

"Chakra Control is definitely on the list, followed by Taijutsu, and Intel.

"Why don't we just do Chakra control today? It's Saturday and she probably wants to spend some time with Gaara; I don't think she wants to be exhausted for that."

"What's the shadow clone Limit?"

"Max SCL for today is 800."

The three clones salute each other and disappear in a puff of smoke.

Gaara returns to his room with a glass of water, feeling as though he needs to grow up a lot faster.

Naruto's awake when he returns; her head is face down in a pillow but her bright blue eyes stare at him even in the darkness of the bedroom. "Did you have a bad dream?" Her voice is a bit scratchy; Gaara holds out the glass of water that he brought back with him from the kitchen, it's still half full. She takes a couple of sips graciously before handing it back.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

He shakes his head. "I don't remember it."

"Did it scare you?"

"A little."

She's out of bed in an instant; the sheets drag behind her and she struggles to step out of them, her hair is a mess and she's wearing nothing more than her pajamas but she's up and awake and there's no going back. "Let's go for a walk."

"A walk?" It's two in the morning; the only people out right now were alcoholics and druggies.

Nonetheless, Naruto bobs her head up and down. It's a bit childish but it makes Gaara feel warm inside when she grabs his hand and declares that they're going for an adventure. She hooks her arm around his and leads the way with gusto that a normal child wouldn't have at two in the morning, long before the sun even begins to rise.

It's a beautiful night; Konoha has a lot of them.

Gaara finds himself captivated by the empty streets; the sound of his feet gently hitting the paved ground and the cicadas in the background leaves him feeling oddly tranquil. The slight breeze is cool against his skin but the hand that's being held in his own is warm; her hair glows, even at night, illuminated by a couple of streetlights. There's a smile on her face as she looks back at him.

"It's great, isn't it? Konoha's great but it's even better at night when there's no one around, don't you think?"

"Yeah," He agrees, turning his attention on the stars that peak out through the tops of the trees. "It's really nice."

"You should see what it's like when the fireflies are out by the lake. It's magical."

"I would like to see that."

"I'll show you next time."

"Where are we going this time?"

She puts a finger up to her lips. "It's a secret."

Gaara's okay with that. He's too busy paying attention to the way the trees seem to stretch all the way up to the sky and tickle the moon with their branches; the leaves shake slightly as the crisp air blows by them, and the fire flies shine brighter than anything he's ever seen before. Their pace slows down; Gaara swears he feels weightless, and more alive than he should at two in the morning.

"I think that we should do this more often."

The red head tears his gaze away from the firefly that just flew past his face; it rests beside a flower and makes the colors shine brighter than ever before. "I would like that." He says genuinely; he wouldn't mind going on walks like these every once in awhile, where the air is crisp and the moon shines brightly and his best friend is smiling happily at his side. "I would really like that."

"Me too," She say, stopping him abruptly and putting a hand over his eyes. "It's gonna be a surprise, so don't try and peak okay."

"Okay," He hums. The ground becomes hard underneath his feet; they're not in the woods anymore, Gaara wonders if she brought him back to the streets already.

They take a couple more steps before she drops her hand from his face and when the red head can finally see, he's enthralled.

"It's the Hokage Monument."

He can see everything from here; the tops of the buildings that seemed to go on forever, the bars and casino's lit up with various colors, the street lights, and the empty streets to what would usually be a bustling village. It's breathtaking; Gaara can't find the right words to describe it, so instead his mouth hangs open just slightly and his eyes widen in amazement.

Above them the sky is a dark shade of blue that causes the stars and moon to contrast brightly against it; he stares up at them and wonders if he's ever seen anything this bright before. There's something peaceful about being out at night when everyone else is asleep, but this is feels completely different.

"This is one of my favorite places to come when I'm upset."

She sits down and tugs him down with her; they're close to the edge. A fall from this height would probably mean their death but Naruto doesn't seem concerned, so Gaara doesn't worry about it either. "Is it because of the view?"

"I guess that's one of the reasons, the view..." She pauses; her bright blue eyes stare down at the village for the longest of seconds. She's not smiling, but she's not frowning either. She looks content. "It really takes your mind off of things."

"Yeah." He agrees. "What about the other reasons?"

She sighs. "I don't know, it's kinda stupid."

"I don't know what it is, but I know it's not stupid."

"Do you miss Suna?"

She's changing the subject; Gaara catches her, but he goes along with it. His thoughts carry him away and before long he's looking past the village and seeing flashes of his own; the lonely nights on which he used to wander the empty streets on his own with his head down and his shoulders feet dragging. The last walk he went on before he left was with his sister; she held his hand the entire way and while the two were mostly silent, the memory is enough to last.

His shoulders relax. "I suppose, a bit. I believe that I left on a good note; my sister hugged me before I left, and she looked me in the eyes when she told me that she loved me. I miss her, and I miss my uncle as well."

"I'm glad to hear that. I was super upset when I found out that you guys weren't getting along. You guys actually have each other and just keeping things the way they were would've been a waste." Her lips press together in a thin line; she's pouting, upset about a situation that has nothing to do with her. "How's your brother?"

"He's a bit more cautious but I think things are getting better."

She nods. "Cool,"

"Yeah."

"Do you wanna stay a little longer?"

"Yeah."

Gaara falls asleep hoping that this memory will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Naruto falls asleep wishing the same thing.

By the time the sun rises, they're out.

Surrounded by nothing but the world and each other.

...


End file.
